Recording instrument and equipment



Oct. 21, 1952 w. H. v. CLARKE ET AL RECORDING INSTRUMENT AND EQUIPMENT 19 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 16, 1949 Inventors William H.V. Clarke Thomas S, Parramore Attorney .mllil'llllll Oct. 21, 1952 w. H. v. CLARKE ET AL 2,614,900

RECORDING INSTRUMENT AND EQUIPMENT Filed Feb. 16, 1949 19 Sheets-Sheet 2 Inventors wrl/ial; H.V. Clarke homas 5, Parramore i? Whom Oct. 21, 1952 w. H. v. CLARKE El AL 2,614,900

RECORDING INSTRUMENT AND EQUIPMENT Filed Feb. 16, 1949 le'sneets-sheet 3 wnnunn n' as 90 69 a9 1 H'Hv n'I u ll l lllmnu uun lnl W M' In enlor: W/l/iam MW C/arke homas J? Parramore B5 Attorney Oct 1952 w. H. v. CLARKE ET AL 2,614,900

RECORDING INSTRUMENT AND EQUIPMENT William H. V- C/a ("k8 Attorney Oct. 21, 1952 w. H. v. CLARKE El AL 2,614,900

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RECORDING INSTRUMENT AND EQUIPMENT Filed Feb. 16, 1949 19 Sheets-Sheet 11 2 0/ a}, Invenlons TM J. (P mm A tlorne Oct. 21, 1952 w. H. v. CLARKE ET AL RECORDING INSTRUMENT AND EQUIPMENT 19 Sheets-Sheet 12 Filed Feb. 16, 1949 Inventor: Wfllmm HM. Clarke Thomas 5,7arramors 8:1 Q3, min/If Attorney Oct. 21, 1952 w. H. v. CLARKE Er AL RECORDING INSTRUMENT AND EQUIPMENT 19' Sheets-Sheet 15 Filed Feb. 16, 1949 1952 w. H. v. CLARKE Er AL 2,614,900

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Oct. 21, 1952 w. H. v. CLARKE r-:r AL 2,614,900

RECORDING INSTRUMENT AND EQUIPMENT Filed Feb. 16, 1949 19 Sheets-Sheet 15 lilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllfiill illllllllllllll h I I Inventors Attorney Oct. 21, 1952 W. H. V. CLARKE ET AL RECORDING INSTRUMENT AND EQUIPMENT l9 Shqets-Sheet 16 Filed Feb. 16, 1949 Inventor 11mm H.v. CML TM 5. Wanna mm Oct, 21, 1952 w. H. v. CLARKE ET AL RECORDING INSTRUMENT AND EQUIPMENT l9 Sheets-Sheet 17 Filed Feb. 16, 1949 WW & Wu w w A a [WWW "beets-Sheet 18 W. H. V. CLARKE ET AL RECORDING INSTRUMENT AND EQUIPMENT wmwi g 8v Oct. 21, 1952 Filed Feb. 16, 1949 Oct. 21, 1952 w. H. v. CLARKE El AL v2,614,900

RECORDING INSTRUMENT AND EQUIPMENT Filed Feb. 16, 1949 19 Sheets-Sheet l9 I nvenlors L W/LIAM Attorney Patented Oct. 21, 1952 UNITED STAT PAT EN T OF F I CE RECORDING IN STRUMENT-AND EQUIPMENT WillianfHerbert Victor Clarke, Bournemouth, and

Thomas- 'Stuart'Parramore, West 'Malling, England, assignoi' s to Airspeed Limited, Portsmouth, "Englanil a. com'pany' o'f Great Britain Application Fbruary 16, 1949, Serial No. 76,682 In'Gre'atBrltain February 16,1948

14 Claims.

,1 l hisinventionrelates to 'recording instruments and equipment and particularly tomultiplerecorders which enable a considerable number *of instrument readings to. be recorded in rapid' succession, 'the whole recording operation :being largelyautomatic.

A familiar type of -recording 'instrument hasa stylus which is attached to aninstrument movement so -thatit'is moved across-a graduated chart material according to theinstrument-reading and thechart material is-movecl continuously past the stylus to give a continuous line on the chart which rises or falls according to the recorded value at any instant during the recording operation.

A recordinginstrument according to thepresent invention differs iundamentallyfrom the type described above in that the stylus is traversed independently across the chart materialand, in thesimplest form of theinstrument, makes only a single record .point during each traverse, the position of the recorded point indicating the magnitude of a recorded quantity. Alternativelvthe stylus may be caused to record a number-of points in each traverse to indicate the magnitudes of a v numberof recorded quantities. I

According to the resent invention, "a recording instrument "has "a display board or *o'thersurface adapted't'o receivea chartmateriarora similar recording surface and a "stylu's which is arranged to traverse the recordingsurface and make 'a'record' 'markatapoint whosepositionalong' the path of traverse of the stylus indicates themagnitude of the-'quanti'ty-to 'be"recorded.

After a first traverse; the stylus may be moved relatively to the chart mate'i ial and caused -totraverse the recording surface along other paths "which are progressively displaced alon g the chart material. In this way, a number of "discrete record :marks \are :made showing the variation in magnitude: of the 'recorded 'quantity at the' tiin'es of the successive traverses. Agraphmade iip -of the separate points, is in'this manner irecorded on the chart material.

If,-as isprefer-red, the traverse' of thestylusand the displacement "of the chart material are at rightangles, the graphs so Fformed willindicate the variation-of the recorded quantity with time, orwith any dependent variable, against rectangulance-ordinates.

The preferred form of the invention is concerned with the special problem which arises when a-large number of records have tobetaken and this form-of the invention has been success- "fully applied to recording readings of a large number of strain gauges set up on -a stressed structure'such as an aircraft wing.

For such purposes, the areaof the recording surface-is divided transversely intoa number of zones, each zone exteriding'throughout the effecwhich 3 is driven forwards I continuously alo'n'g the recording surface during-a recordingoperation andthe stylus isrnove'd relativ'ely to the carriage, transversely of the "recording surface-with a component of motion equal and opposite -to-the forward motion of thecarriagesothat theresultant direction of'the stylus movementis perpendicular to the direction of the carriage movement. I'hus the carriage movementmay bring a stylus into position for-a subsequenttra'verse and the separate points constituting a single graph are then-displaced by the distance of thecarriage movement during-each traverse.

However, 'it is I preferred to move the r'ecording surface relatively -to the stylus under manual control togive the requiredseparation of the separate record marksand, in'this 'a'rrangement, the movement of the'carriageismadesufiicient to bringthe stylus into "the nextrow of sections along the length'of the-recording surface ready "fo itsnext traverse. In this way marge number,

up to some hundreds, or sections-maybe accom modated inrows 'along the recording-surface on a single sheet dfchart material.

The recording technique employed, in theexample instanced'is to connect the stylustoeach 'of "a large number of instruments insu'c'cession 'both as -thestyhls traverses the Width of the chart material and as the carriage moves along the length of the chart material.

In this wa a single series of record marks" is ma'de, one in eaensection recording thevalue of eachof the instruments in succession.

:After' this first recording operation, the itest conditions are varied, the? chart material ismoved .longitudinallyashort distance under manual control "and the recording operation is repeated. This provides azsecond series of record marks showing the varia-tionin reading of eachaofith'e instruments. =i'equir'ed number "of timesand: provides ultimately The process is thenrepeated vany a'se riesofgraphs, one in each-zoneyshowing the variation of the instrument-readings with the progressive variationof test conditions.

A recording instrument according-to theinvention preferably has a framework and a display board mounted on the framework. The-display board can be moved within the length ofa zone relatively to the I framework under a manual. con- 

